Chainsaw History - Part Two: Eliza Schuyler Hamilton

Episode Date: July 25, 2024

{ Discover more at ChainsawHistory.com — access our full episode list, delve into bonus content, and support our show with a paid subscription! }Bambi concludes her deep dive into Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, widow of Alexander Hamilton—the only American so far to have been shot dead by the sitting Vice President of the United States. Using the Hamilton musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda as a touchstone, we explore Eliza's happiest years, heart-wrenching tragedies, lifelong grudges, and many charitable works before her death at 96 years old. Most notably, we delve into her tireless efforts to house and educate orphans in New York City.Why did Eliza hate James Monroe for the rest of her life? Did she burn her husband's letters out of anger, or was it part of a cover-up? Did the Reynolds Affair actually happen, or was it an elaborate lie? Why did Benedict Arnold travel around Europe with a portrait of Alexander Hamilton? These burning questions and more will be answered as we ask, "Who tells your story?" when it comes to Eliza Hamilton.

And then one day I got hacked by somebody in Vietnam and Facebook rewarded me by having my account permanently deleted. Yeah, that's complete bullshit. But you know it's not complete bullshit. Act 2 of Eliza Hamilton. Yup. So we start out with Thomas Jefferson's homecoming. This song is called

What Did I Miss? And so, you know, it starts out with Jefferson coming back home. Jefferson comes home instantly the coolest person in the entire story. Jefferson comes home instantly the coolest person in the entire story. And he really was the coolest person in the entire musical, even just the way that he strutted out. It was just like, ugh.

Which is so funny too, because the thing about Thomas Jefferson in real life is he was socially awkward, shy, he did not like public speaking. He's like, I'm a writer, I am not a talker. And he did not like any of the more public facing roles and stuff. And the idea that he was socially confident and just walking in with his dick swinging around very much not like the actual dude, but that's a whole

nother story. Well, you know, they gave his a shout out to his slave wife, Sally Hemmings mentioned her real briefly for her to do something for him, which makes sense. Yep. Here, Sally, get me this. Yep, and you know, Jefferson, he's such a mixed pack. Yeah, like I said, there is little relation in the musical Jefferson to the dude in real life,

but I did, I immensely enjoyed the performance. Oh, so much. He stole the show in so many ways. He was even great at, I mean, yeah, it's so many ways. He was even great I mean that the mm-hmm. Oh is Lafayette. Yes I'm specifically thinking of the Broadway, but I'm sure it was great in the the one you just saw too That's a great that is just a juicy role to play both Lafayette and Jefferson It was really good. Although I was reading the I read a comment about the musical and it was like one of the comments and it was

Supposed to be Peggy and she whispers to she goes Peggy whispers to Lafayette had let's change her clothes and ruin Alexander's life It's like that's fun cuz yeah, but I'm not here to To fix all the wrongs of this music I'm here for Eliza Hamilton. I'm only here for Eliza and and her family. Although in this song he sang And one of those ladies just happened to be Angelica yes, he wrote her several letters Suggesting they hook up. Yeah, he wrote her several letters suggesting they hook up. Yeah, and also he was very flagrant with his affair with this teenage girl in Paris.

She was like sent to him while he was over there. Yeah, and technically Sally Hemings must have been dedicated to him because she could have just she was a free citizen in Paris. It's even weirder when you understand how he was. dedicated to him because she could have just she was a free citizen in in Paris. It's even weirder when you understand how there was no slavery in France so she could have just been like peace out dude and fucking left. She was I mean technically uh related to his dead wife Martha. Yeah like yeah they were they were half sisters and they looked a lot alike. Even more deeply fucked up the more you think about it.

Oh yeah. See this again, mixed fucking back. So that's fun. But again, this is how Alexander gets this little piece of information about Sally Hemmings that he throws back at Jefferson at different opportunities. Because yeah, Jefferson wasn't super shy about it. rose back at Jefferson at different opportunities. Cause yeah, Jefferson wasn't super shy about it. And in case anybody still holds onto this idea that that's just a naughty rumor,

like DNA has confirmed from descendants of these people that no, a hundred percent he had children with Sally Hemings. Yeah. But again, we're not talking about Thomas Jefferson. Yeah, fuck him. Let's move on. Yep. So we have, and we have Eliza and Alexander living in Philadelphia and he's working at

the treasury. And this is a really, really happy time for Eliza. In fact, the only dark stain on it is at this point, Eliza lost her best friend, Marie Charlotte Antle. It was a real bummer. So Marie Charlotte gave birth to a little baby girl and immediately died. And so Eliza brought Fanny and her sister Harriet into their home and into their nursery and raised the girls for two years. The girls father Colonel Edward Ansel took Harriet but left Fanny and two years later they both sadly

died. So the Hamiltons had already informally adopted Fanny so she just stayed with their family. Welcome to how much fun it was in the very early 19th century or late 18th century. Now, Eliza and Alexander really had a soft spot for orphans. This is their first, but not their last. Yeah, I mean, Hamilton had a certain, you can understand from his background why he had a thing for orphans. He did. And I guess because of it, he gave her a thing for orphans and she was a really loving mother. So- More kids to care for just made her happy.

Yeah. I can understand that I am married to someone kinda like that. Yeah. So at one point they even harbored George Washington Lafayette, friend of Alex, the son of Alexander's friend, the Marquis de Lafayette. The most patriotic, You know, like.

Mm-hmm. But yeah, he was like hiding out in America at one point and they literally harbored him and hid him. Well, I don't think a lot of Americans truly understand what a genuine American hero, Lafayette was. I mean, he was. He was. And he went to prison.

He was a teenage boy when he decided to throw in with us and throw everything in with us and he... And he got fucked for it. He got completely and totally fucked for it and he still didn't have any regrets. Nope. He was a cool fucking dude. I like me Lafayette. So Marquis, the Marquis. So soon after taking in Fanny, Eliza gave birth to their next child, a son named Alexander Hamilton Jr. born on May 16th, 1786. Next we see Eliza sing the song, Take a Break. And Alexander is writing Angelica letters and he's working so much he's neglecting his family and we see Eliza teaching her son French and piano.

And if we stop there this probably wasn't way too off. Eliza was a really hands-on mother. She was always with the kids. The biggest stupidest part of this song was I have a sister but I want a little brother yeah again they had her in that pregnancy suit at the at the beginning and then they took it off of her they really should have just kept that shit on for the entire fucking thing until the very end because the only time in her life that she stopped getting birth was after Alexander was fucking dead. After he died and stopped plugging babies into her every chance he got. Yeah and I mean her mom stopped getting her last child was born when she was 48.

Damn. So yeah she could have had a few more years. Those good Dutch birthing genes. Mm-hmm so in 1787 Eliza sat for her portrait portrait in Dettors Prison for one of Alexander's friends. Now this is the famous portrait with the ribbon around her neck with her high white hair. This is the famous portrait of Eliza and the next one is hers, a shriveled old husk of a woman. Well, it's expensive and a pain in the ass to get a portrait done back then. Mm-hmm, but she sat

Specifically so she could raise money to win this guy to earn this guy's freedom and she convinced other women to do the same it became kind of a charitable thing for her to do and she sat there day after day and This prison scared the shit out of her. Like this became her greatest fear. She had nightmares about this place. And but she still did it. She sat stone-faced and motionless for days on end in this horror place that she could not stand and convinced other people to do it. There are certain people who would love to see debtor's prisons come back

and indentured servitude and stuff like that. Gross. Yay. But yeah, this had an influence on her and probably like influenced a lot of her decisions later on in life. Cause this fucking terrified her. Debtor's prison was the scariest, most awful thing that she could think of. On April 14th, 1788, Eliza gave birth to her third son and fourth child, James Alexander Hamilton.

We can go back to the song Take a Break. Most of the little inaccurate parts aren't really interesting but in 1789 Angelica did come home for a visit. I'm coming home this summer at my sister's invitation. I was distracted for a second by the fact that he had a kid with the same name as my son, James Alexander. James Alexander. It's a pretty nice name.

Shout out to Xander. Okay, and this is when basically all the troubles and all the rumors and all the gossip started. His political enemies were pretty much everywhere. They were numerous. And the fact that Angelica Hamilton and Peggy and Steven were both, they were all wild flirts. Eliza was the tame one. They were all way more fun than she was. She was the mom of the group. Always. So they had a fucking grand old time while she was in town. They went to parties and they went to dances and this is where rumors of an affair with Alexander started and and they were on the dance floor and Angelica,

it's doubtful cause there, there are two things that could have happened. One was that she lost her garter, which is a ribbon that would tie up her stocking so that her stocking fluttered to the ground. And the other one was that she lost a shoe bow. Either way, Peggy being Peggy, scooped it off off the floor and then tucked it into Alexander's buttonhole. And then they had a little flirtatious thing and Angelica says, oh, I didn't know you were a knight of the garter and

Peggy replies he'd be a knight of the bedchamber if he could saucy but all of that Little bitty flirtation among very close friends is how rumors of an affair got started and He didn't just it wasn't just of an affair got started. And he didn't just, it wasn't just rumors and affair with Angelica, which they implied in the musical, but also with Peggy. He was rumored to be banging both of his sisters-in-law, which is so incredibly

unlikely, especially considering he wasn't just close to the women. He was also very close to those men. Which you just, if they haven't done the Hamilton porn parody. Yeah. That's three sisters. Yeah. It's all right there. It's, it's right there with, you know, Thomas Jefferson.

What did I miss? I refused to start writing the lyrics in my head. Let's move on. But yeah. So the likelihood of him having an affair with Angelica, especially during this time, like, cause she was staying with them and she was also staying with her sister

and they went to her parents. Yeah, I don't remember hearing anything about that particular story, but even from the Chernow biography and even the musical, it never actually suggested that they did anything. It just said they wanted to and they didn't. The flirtation. It was this thing, but you're saying it wasn't even much of that.

It wasn't serious. No, it wasn't serious at all. And again, these were Eliza's favorite people in the world and she was indulging. She probably was just like, oh my God. Rolling her eyes. Exactly. Oh, my horror sisters are just being, oh my God. Rolling her eyes. Exactly. Oh my, my horror sisters are just being obnoxious again. Look at them being all flirts.

But during this time they did go to the first inaugural ball and tongues were wagging hard because Eliza was dancing with president Washington and Alexander danced with Angelica. Granted, Angelica also danced with Stephen. And also when you remember how people danced at this point, it wasn't exactly like they were Patrick Swayze. I had the time of my life. No this was all very, and it was proper for him to take a dance with his sister-in-law. At the end of it, Hamilton rushes Washington who does the lift. That would have been it because I'm pretty sure... those men were way more in love with each other than they did with these women.

Epic father-son bromance. Yep, but but Angelica left and it would be a long time before she returned and part of it was because Angelica was in town because I want to say one of her brothers eloped Yeah, cuz that was what that's what the Skylers do. That is what they do. So it's a fuck you dad I'm gonna marry who I want now. This is the new post-revolutionary period But yeah, but every time they did it they all ran to the new post-revolutionary period. But yeah, but every time they did it they all ran to Eliza for help. Eliza help me with my elopement. And they never told her about it beforehand because she would have put a stop to it. When I eloped I made sure nobody knew about it and didn't bother anybody until it

was done. Well now that's how they all did it too. They all ran to grandparents and siblings and fixed this for me. So it was a long time. Angelica came twice within like a two year period and then she didn't come back for a decade. That boat trip sucks. That boat trip sucks a lot. And her husband didn't want to leave her, her to leave, especially while he was trying to build a political career. And between all his gambling and whoring. Yes. But he was a proper gentleman.

That's how it's done. Once he has enough money, it's fine to do all that stuff. Yep. Just not cool when you're broke. So in 1790, the couple left New York to go to the temporary home of the Capitol in Philadelphia. Another thing they skipped over in the musical, they just went straight from New York to Washington, D.C. forgetting that we had a stopover in Philly for a while. Yeah, I mean, we didn't, it was Jefferson who spent the first term in the Capitol, I think, because it was, the temporary home was Philadelphia,

and I wanna say John Adams' term was spent in Philadelphia. The White House was built during John Adams' administration. And then so, Thomas Jefferson was actually the first president to move in. And then he was like, help! So Dolly Madison had to step in. But that's a whole different side story. Yeah, I always remember that really excellent

John Adams mini-series that, yeah, the excellent John Adams mini-series that HBO did, I always remember that period where he rides in and there's all the slaves building the White House. So Angelica wrote her quote, "'Do you live as pleasantly in Philadelphia "'as you did in New York? York or are you obligated to bear the Formalities of female circles and their trifling chit chat for you to have at home the most agreeable

Society in the world how you must smile at their manner of losing time unquote Throwing shade she was I mean apparently Angelica and Peggy were some shady bitches. Well I mean it's like the typical thing. They were popular society ladies. It's like we're from New York, not the crudeness of Philadelphia. Yeah, I'm assuming they're more fun. So they lived in a rented house next to the Washingtons who were helping to raise two of Martha's grandchildren. And this, they had daily play dates and president Washington would sit in Eliza's parlor, reading the newspaper and watching the children play. And this is one of the happiest times in Eliza's marriage. She really did.

She loved the Philly years. Well, she loved living next to the Washingtons. They were her people. She felt very at home with them. And they were able to, you know, their children did dance lessons together. And it's like, cause they were raising grandparents. They were raising kids.

So it was a really, really nice time for them and unfortunately it was short-lived. Which takes us to our next song, Say No to This. So the story goes in the summer of 1791, Eliza went with her children to Albany, a trip she took every summer to escape malaria and yellow fever in the city. Because that's what rich people did, They escaped a disease season. Yes. And Alexander always had to work. So it was always Eliza going to her family with the children and they were

always stuck there longer than she wanted to be. She was like, I'm going to go for two weeks. Like this, I'm out. And always she was there for months. And she hated it. This was one of the most vexing and trifling things in her marriage. She hated being separated from Alexander.

Mostly because he was a bitch and he couldn't write enough for her. So, but she did. She hated being away from him. But at the same time, he's like, are we gonna get a bunch of kids and malaria is gonna knock at least one or two of them out? I almost died from it, look at how sickly I am.

Of course he had to have his annual bout of being just horribly ill. Yeah it's like I can't get sicker. But no, so she went to go stay with her father and one of Eliza's cousins, which they don't even mention in the musical, but Mariah Reynolds shows up with a sob story and Alexander gives her some cash and they start an affair. Mariah's husband, James Reynolds, finds out and starts blackmailing Alexander.

We end the song with nobody needs to know and Alexander hands off money to James Reynolds. They walk away. Nobody needs to know. And that is all that will be mentioned for a while. Yeah even though it's like way more complicated than that in real life. Yes. And the next song in the musical is the best in the musical, The Room Where It Happens. Yes, and the Knox song in the musical is the best in the musical the room where it happens But it doesn't matter here, so we're just yeah, that's just Aaron Burr Doing Aaron Burr shit doing Aaron Burr shit talking about how our

Political system is a little fucked but we're gonna go on to Skyler defeated and the important part of the muse this part is General Skyler lost his Senate seat to Aaron Burr and it pisses Alexander off and this is where tensions start which Yes, but it was also more complicated than that and this is not where if they animosity They're still good at this point. Right. They might be frenemies. This is where the frenemies start. They stopped being friendly and stop being

the fact that he knocked his father in law out of his Senate seat. Yeah. Well, he also had to change political parties to do it. Yeah. And that was a big deal. He felt it was a personal betrayal on two levels. Yeah, because originally they were all Federalists together and then he jumped over to the Jeffersonian side of things. So that pissed them off and so tensions are rising. Political opponents,

Alexander is getting increasingly more unpopular and then the one line I do love from this is We smack each other in the press and we don't print retraction Because that fucking shit was true. They would be like, he's a goat fucker. Leave it alone. Well that's what all those things were because everybody would just write under little clever pseudonyms and they would just trash talk each other. Yeah, it was gross. So this is where the timeline gets a little sloppy.

So you're going to have to bear with me because in the next few songs don't really happen in any correct order, but whatever, whatever. So we're in Philadelphia and rumors around Alexander. We're getting so bad. Aliza just stopped going out. And except for with Marsh the Washington who protected her from gossip. Now, I don't know if you know the practice of what calling is, Jamie, but the practice of calling is ladies of upper social standing going and visiting their friends every day at a certain time.

Like there's literally a certain time of day where you go calling on people. And that's why people used to have calling cards that they would leave if the person wasn't there. If they missed someone so they would know that they had been called on. I am familiar with this. Yeah and for political wives it was especially important and wasn't something she just couldn't do. She was still one of the most prominent socialites in Philadelphia. Even though plagued by scandal.

She was plagued by scandal and she got to this point where she refused to go out except for with Martha Washington who would protect her. No one would say shit in front of Martha. She had this quiet, terrifying presence. She did. Nobody fucked with her. I have, it's like, I want to look more into Martha Washington. I bet she was a fucking, she was a cool lady. Certain people just disappeared around Martha Washington and were never seen

again. See, Jamie, that's, that's called slander. It's called speculation. So on August 22nd 1792 Eliza had yet another son whom she named John Church Hamilton after her brethren. So that's how close she was to these motherfuckers. She was naming her kids after them. Everybody's naming everybody after their closest members of their family. Angelica. But made sure to get the suck up to dad name

right out of the way. And I know that's not even the last time they do that. No. Because weirdly enough, we get more than one Philip Hamilton. Yep. So in spring of 1793, Alexander gave George Washington his letter of resignation.

Angelica wrote, quote, It has been whispered to me that my friend Alexander means to quit the employment of secretary. The country will lose one of her best friends and you, my dear Eliza, will be the only person to whom this change will be either necessary or agreeable. I am inclined to believe that it is your influence induces him to withdraw from public life. That's so good a wife, so tender a mother, to be so bad a patriot is wonderful." End quote. Sick burn. But yeah, she was like, yeah, you're not a good patriot, but you're a great wife and mother, so thumbs up. That's wonderful. Even though she was more politically motivated than Eliza. Yeah, I'm so glad you're such a good wife and mother that you want to fuck your country

But she still thought it was wonderful So in the summer of 1793 the couple the couple rented a house outside the city to escape fucking yellow fever again Yeah, but this time they were unfortunately Unable to both Eliza and Alexander got terribly sick. Yeah, because yellow fever also not fun. So they had to send away all their children with the exception of the infant who was still nursing. Yeah, give me a quick fuck you to everybody out there who doesn't want to vaccinate their children. This is what the old days were like. Yeah. The only thing that was fortunate for Alexander and Eliza

was that Alexander's friend and possible half brother, Dr. Edward Stevens was in town from the West Indies. Yes, and I am familiar with that story too. That was another part of the orphan bastard, son of a whore that maybe he was the family that took him in after a couple other people died. Just happened to have a son that looked just like him. It's like, it's weird.

Yep. Yep. So, but Dr. Stevens actually saved their lives because at the time- This man's too beautiful to die so edward stevens but he used cold baths to help with fevers instead of bleeding and purging which was popular at the time yeah the thing that uh only helped people die faster versus the thing that actually helped uh deal with direct symptoms such as you're overheating and you need to cool down but yeah and bleeding was one of they actually bleeding was probably the reason George

Washington died because he had sick he got sick and instead of letting him rest they basically bled him till he didn't have enough he didn't have enough in him to stay alive. Yeah and then George Washington was literally died taking his own pulse I don't think I have any blood left. Nope, definitely don't. Thumb shit. Ah, yes. Just bleed yourself out to death and drink some mercury. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be fine. So, but Dr. Stevens was like, let's give him a cold bath.

Holy shit, somebody with a basic common sense. So the good news is they survived but unfortunately the lead city doctor Benjamin Rush, he probably killed more patients than the actual fever. Just because again, bleeding you and making you throw up might not be the best thing for you when you're sick as fuck. Medicine was nonsense until like 10 minutes ago. But fortunately, Alexander and Eliza were able to recover, although both were sick off and on for the next year. Yeah, that was, he was just like.

And Alexander was sickly, but Eliza wasn't. He was like, I'm used to all these tropical diseases. She was a sturdy girl and this took it out of her. I'm Dutch, I'm not supposed to get yellow fever. What the fuck? Yeah, but this is what happens when you refuse to escape the city like your husband tells you to Lesson learned they were like, let's just go a little way away from the city and it wasn't enough He's like I'm gonna get sick every year anyway, but you don't have to yep So Alexander put off his resignation because of the volatile situation in France, you know King Louis head

Yeah, and a lie one of us awesome times ever Rich people's heads it was great. Oh love it then Napoleon came along ruined everything But yeah I saw a great meme the other day and it was of the French Revolution with this woman with the French flag with one tit hanging out and it was and it said tits out rich eight. I love it. Now France to this day they're like threatening to rage a retirement age by like six months and they just burn half of Paris to the ground. They do not fuck around. Yes, the French make their will known.

Yup, so Eliza was really frustrated with having to deal with all this shit. And in the summer of 1794, Alexander went off with the army to fight the Whiskey Rebellion. Look, when Britain taxed our tea, we got frisky. Imagine what gonna happen when you try to tax our whiskey. Not long after he left, Eliza found out

that she was pregnant. And on November 24th, Eliza suffered her one and only miscarriage. Now, Eliza kind of freaked out. And it was very, very much unlike her to freak out. And she freaked out, and it freaked her mother out because she was like, very much unlike her to freak out. And she freaked out and it freaked her mother out because she was like, my daughter is strong and strong willed and this is not like her.

Not like her to have a nervous breakdown. Exactly, so Kitty Skyler started writing letters and pulling strings until she got all the way up to Washington. In fact, George Washington himself personally, who personally he loved Eliza, so he wrote Alexander himself and quote, "'My dear Hamilton, Mrs. Alexander has had

"'or in in danger of a miscarriage that has much alarmed her. "'She is extremely desirous of your presence "'to tranquilize her,' end quote. "'Alexander went home on leave at Washington's urging and after a brief stay he went back to the army and gave Washington his letter of resignation. Again. I gotta take care of my wife. Yeah. Like she's so upset she's losing babies. Which she was upset and she was also recovering from yellow fever so

she was all fucked up and if she hadn't been all fucked up she probably would have carried that baby to term too because she just like the fucking rest of them so back to the musical we have jefferson madison and burr are angry and losing another cabinet battle about sending aid to France. They're all mad. Because no one can rap battle like Alexander Hamilton. That is true. So quick witted. Alas, I admit it.

I bet you were quite a lawyer. My defendants got acquitted. Yeah. Well, someone ought to remind you. What? You had nothing without Washington behind you. He could fucking rap battle like no one else. Everyone thought of him before. Yep, he threw down that beat and everybody just fucking couldn't hold it.

So they sing and they fuss about Alexander being too close to Washington. He has quote Washington in his pocket unquote. They're all whiny and bitchy about it. It must be nice. Yeah. So as a result it has Jefferson resigning from office. I have to resign. Somebody has to stand up for the South. Somebody has to stand up to his mouth. If there's a fire you're trying to douse you can't put it out from inside the house. I'm in the cabinet. I am complicit in watching and grabbing and powering kissin' If Washington isn't gonna listen to discipline dissident this is the

difference this kid is out." And Washington and Alexander have a heartfelt talk and Washington has Alexander write his farewell speech. The scripture says everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree and no one shall make them afraid they'll be safe in the nation we've made. Washington leaves office with fanfare and clapping huzzah he's gone and also let's just a quick note that our own uh that I found out actual cousin James Madison is just portrayed as a Jefferson wheezy yes man

just repeating shit Jefferson said because he got nothing of his own to say. Which is not at all. No. After I found out we're related at some point we may even talk about Mr. Madison. Mr. Madison. Madison, you mad as a hound, so take your medicine. So Washington leaves office and the next comes up is the Adam administration and Alexander finally leaving office in Philadelphia. But first King George strutting out to laugh at the whole thing. Which I haven't said one word about King George but he is absolutely my fucking favorite in the entire thing. He pops out twice and steals the

entire show. Three times. That's right's right. Yeah, he does pop out. He pops out a third time. But yeah, when he does pop out, it's glorious every single time. That poor man, they're going to eat him alive. President John Adams, good luck. Good luck. Because he was like, yeah, George Washington

had this like presence and John Adams is just this wormy little guy. And honestly, it's a thing if you watch the Paul Giamatti mini series that I mentioned earlier, like the whole ultimate was like John Adams did a lot and accomplished basically nothing. He was just sort of spent his whole life frustrated with everyone else around him. He was the first person to find out how useless being vice president was. Yeah. And then he was a useless president. president was yeah, and then he was a useless president So and then Hamilton and they blamed everybody else for his bad administration It was somebody else's fault and he was a bitch called Hamilton racist name very racist names

He was a piece of shit, but any who? Creole bastard was implying that he was a half-breed because he's from the islands. Even though, I'm sorry, you look at Hamilton's portraits, he was about as white as you could fucking get. Yeah, and when they said he was Scottish, it was like, that tracks. He was raised in the West Indies, but it looked like he hadn't seen sunlight ever. Even though, as we portrayed it, the Scottish dude may not have actually been his dad. His mom was a little wild, but she had a hard life.

You know what? Sometimes fun women be like that. So in the summer of 1795, after a few months stay in Albany for rest and relaxation, the family moved back to Manhattan. Family Ant Hill, who had been with Ant Hill, who had been with the couple for 10 years, went to go live with her older

Sister at this point so her married sister took Fanny off and they lost their their little foster kids Yeah, kid kid now the two yeah, yeah the other one Went off with dad and died Just sad for Harriet now Fanny. It's all your turn to go off and die. Yeah, so Alexander restarted his law practice and Eliza was pregnant for the seventh time Harriet now Fanny it's all your turn to go off and die. Yeah, so Alexander Restarted his law practice and Eliza was pregnant for the seventh time Just getting started. Mm-hmm. And now we reach the scandal. This is when Alexander's little naughtiness comes back to bite everybody in the ass. Yep in the musical we see Alexander he is confronted by Madison, Jefferson and Burr about money missing from his accounts and the amount of a thousand dollars. We're not the actual people

involved in that conversation but that's okay. Mr. Vice President, Mr. Madison, Senator Burr, what is this? Alexander comes clean about his affair in blackmail. In reality, it was four senators that included James Monroe and Burr, although Monroe was the true problem. Alexander was already under congressional suspicion for using the Treasury for personal gain. This was the reason he decided to leave office hoping no charges would be filed. The problem started when he appointed his friend William Dewar as the assistant secretary.

Dewar was very obviously corrupt and he knew that certain properties were going to come up on the market and he and all his friends would buy up land cheap. They were also buying up government securities and ditching them for higher prices so they would buy them cheap and then sell them off for higher prices. They were getting fucking rich. Wait, what about you're telling me that these, these finance guys are kind of some shady bullshit just to enrich themselves. Well, good thing they nip that shit in the bud and that never happens in America these days.

Yep. See, we call this insider trading today and we for some reason just think that's cool. It's just called business as usual, as long as you're a member of Congress. There's a free market and people, we have a free market economy that should be able to participate in that. You have to be in government. You have to be a public servant in order for that shit to not be illegal because otherwise

you go to jail like Martha Stewart. By the way, kids, there is an app now that allows you to just literally automatically follow the investments of Nancy Pelosi, who just somehow managed to do great. So it's like if you can just chase the genius, just pick a congressperson and then boom, you will beat the stock market. Yeah, from the book, quote, money was being made hand over fist by the men in their social circle and some by the men in Eliza's family whom were gambling with debt in a wild, exuberant bubble. The unseemly financial speculation of 1790 put Alexander at risk. The speculation of 1791 was worse and the appeal partners were far more damaging. Philip Schuyler,

John Church, John's business partner Jeremiah Wadsworth, William Dewar, Governor Morris, Robert Morris, Eliza and Alexander's friend William Bingham, and both Peggy's Patroon Stephen and his brother Philip von Rensselaer were all playing the market so aggressively and trading the government securities and speculating on real estate development. Eliza's father liquidated $67,000 worth of securities pocketing over over 1.5 million in today's values. Yeah, and see that that I don't know if you know this, Jamie, but that's kind of, it might be a little bit of a temptation. It's a bit of a temptation, you know, to kind of want to get in on that. Yeah, I think Alex Ney wants to wet his beak a little bit, if you know what I'm saying.

So there's a big financial bubble. And when it burst, it brought down the fortunes of a lot of people and landed several of Alexander and Eliza's friends in debtors prison. And this included William Dewar. Dewar has the honor of having America's first financial scandal and congressional hearing for misconduct. I mean, the financial misconduct was just so blatant. Setting a long and proud American tradition

of shady banker and finance bro motherfuckers. And again, this was a bubble, so when it broke, these fucking, all these motherfuckers lost more than they could afford. See a shitload of crypto idiots these days. So Dewar ended up dying in Duterte's prison seven years later. So Eliza and Alexander are in New York and a journalist is given Monroe's secret dossier and exposed the affair and calling it a cover-up for financial fraud.

Alexander and the journalist, they go back and forth in the press and now we go back to the musical. We see torn Alexander debating with himself and reflecting on his life. What am I gonna do? He decides to quote write his way out. I'll write my way out, write everything down far as I can see And publish the Reynolds pamphlet. I am gonna do what I always do and write a fucking encyclopedia's worth of shit that no one needs to know about. Yes. The pamphlet is a detailed raunchy description of the affair, how, where, and why it happened, followed by the account of the blackmail. The Riddles pamphlet. Have you read this?

His poor wife. Next we see a heartbroken Eliza come on stage and reading and singing about her love letters. We see her cry and try to understand how this could happen, how he could do this to her family. And at the end of the song she burns all her letters and declares he he will be sleeping in his office. She's writing herself out of history we end with the line, I hope that you burn. And this is the most logical, reasonable, and it's just this fits. This is a very fitting way of how a woman should react to her husband openly cheating on her. And not only that, but publishing it

and humiliating them all, because it's one thing to have done it, but it's another thing to just tell the world all the deets. Yeah, but the problem is that isn't what happened. Eliza doesn't get angry. In fact, when there's trouble, Eliza goes tribal. She pulls everybody in close. She holds her family even tighter together than usual.

And that's again, we're like applying our modern standards of marriage to, to like, you know, important people at this time period. They're not going to react the same way. Yeah. I don't even honestly know that there was any assumption that a husband would ever be sexually faithful to a woman back then. I mean, in America and culture, it was definitely more of a thing than in Europe, but even still, it's not like the idea that... Even now, we're not surprised when some important dude is cheating on his wife. It's sort of the oldest story in the fucking book.

And I mean, and she faced really horrible ridicule. I mean, they were like, why does she stay with him? It's like, first of all, yeah, of course she would stay with him. Where else would she go? You didn't leave your husband. It's just, it wasn't done. Although funny enough enough there were

divorces granted for infidelity all the time it wasn't just it wasn't done with proper ladies a proper lady wouldn't do that right so the one thing we do know is that Eliza did she burnt all of her old love letters. No one gets to see these. The question is why? Why did she do it? It certainly implies that at one point she was pissed because that is the thing you do when you are pissed and you feel betrayed. I mean, there's no way to know for sure, you know, what her motives were, but it's, it's,

I mean, the two that I can think of, one would be, you know, an act of anger, a symbolic, I'm going to literally burn all these things because obviously this, you know, or, or, or it's the idea that she, that she was hiding details and things. It's just covering up. Yeah. What if the affair is a ruse, Jamie? What if she wasn't a scorned wife?

What if she was an accomplice? Yeah, what if it was a financial crime and this was the way to get them out of it? To get out of it. And keep the money. And yeah, this was, yeah, Eliza didn't care about the idea of infidelity. She cared about debtor's prison.

I've been there and it sucked. Public scrutiny, she was like, no. So it's possible that she helped Alexander cover up his financial crimes and part of it might have been by using her love letters as a template. One of the things that they said was the writing seemed inconsistent. That some of the letters, um, some of the things that they said was the writing seemed inconsistent, that some of the letters, um, some of the words in the letters were spelled wrong while other more complicated letter words were spelled correctly. Now, granted,

sometimes people just do be writing like that. Right. Especially for not formal correspondence. But what if, so conspiracy theory time, let me put on my Alex Jones. All right, so what if they were gonna cover up a crime here by pretending he was cheating on his wife and they ran around the whole time and kept the money? Yes, and what if instead of being heartbroken, she was being calculated? I mean- Savvy lady.

We saw her burn the letters and that may have happened, but she might not have burned them for the reasons. Well, if she, if there's no, you know, indication that she ever got upset at him that we know of and she burned it once again, that's like I said, the two things were either anger or cover-up and you're on team cover-up. I am on team cover up. Now granted the Reynolds pamphlet was written while she was out of town. And if she had been in town, she might've been able to influence him. Don't fucking do this. You dumb shit.

And it was the one of his biggest regrets in life at right after he published. He was like, this is dumb. So her and her family were trying to round up as many of the pamphlets as they could get a hold of and then his enemies started republishing them. It's like putting something on the internet. Once it was out it was out. You can't get your your nudes back I'm sorry. Yeah so evidence suggests she might have known as early sometime in 1792. Okay so James Monroe always thought the fair was a cover-up. Mariah Reynolds also denied the fair the affair and was willing to testify about

it to Congress stating that Alexander and her husband were in collusion on insider trading scheme. She claimed that Alexander would use husband were in collusion on insider trading scheme. She claimed that Alexander would use James as a proxy for land and stock speculation. She even divorced James Reynolds using Aaron Burr as her divorce attorney under charges of fraud and fidelity and falsely destroying her character, which was not in the Ron For Now book. Burr, you're a better lawyer than me. No, none of that.

Yeah. I am just this slutty chick with a, in a bad marriage. My husband's doing me wrong. Beating me, cheating me, mistreating me. And she's like, no, you don't get to say that I'm just some tramp doing all this blaming me when it was my husband and this dude in doing some shady Shady shit and I'm already aware of a couple like it's been a long time So I can't remember the details But remember after the musical I found out about certain records that came up that showed that

Hamilton was in a number of very shady s business deals because he was out to enrich himself He was he was a climber. He was a climber and business deals because he was out to enrich himself. He was, he was a climber. He was a climber. And even though they have, you know, they were like, oh, obviously this affair. And they accused him of sleeping with hookers and all kinds of women.

There was actually no evidence of Alexander being unfaithful to his wife. None, ever. Also, it wouldn't be surprising if he was either. It wouldn't be surprising. Especially when he was off with the army and off doing, when they were separated at times, it wouldn't be surprising if he was either It wouldn't be special he was off with the army and off doing when they were separated at times. It wouldn't be unusual Yeah, but at the same time I mean The bitch was always pregnant so it couldn't stay off. So so which is which is better, you know

cheating husband or You know prototype for every member of Congress we've had since then, minus a couple gems. Yeah. So James Monroe, Aaron Burr heard both sides of the story and they said Mariah and they believed Mariah. They found her innocent of infidelity. James Reynolds dipped out before charges could be filed against him.

And it literally like the day Alexander was, oh, I have letters. Don't mind me, meet me later and you can see. I'll have these letters for you. Give me a week. Give me some time. And the first thing he does is run off and goes and warns James Reynolds.

His business partner potentially. Yes. This is interesting. Okay. So yeah, James Reynolds dipped and they never heard from him again. And like literally in a court of law, he had, she was found that this shit didn't happen. Didn't shit did not happen.

She was found innocent. I didn't do it. This is all bullshit. James Reynolds business associate, Jacob Klingman also was willing to testify as a witness several times. Jacob came to the house and saw Alexander and Reynolds exchange money. He also claimed Reynolds confessed to him about the fraud. Now Klingman married Mariah soon after his divorce was granted.

So there is doubt in that corner. Yeah he's also not necessarily a reliable witness. Exactly. God everybody in this story is shady. Yup but let's consider Eliza. Except Eliza she seems alright. Her fears didn't include public scrutiny. Her biggest fear was debtor's privilege and she witnessed the awful conditions firsthand

and she would do anything to protect her loved ones. And again, this wasn't even just about Alexander. It was also about protecting her father, her brothers-in-law, her whole family, all the dudes in her family. Exactly. So it is very possible that Eliza was a willing participant in at least the coverup of these scandals. She's like, I will endure humiliation if it keeps everybody I love safe out of prison got it

Yep, this wasn't a great time for Eliza. Yeah, either way It's not great to be it's not great and she she was pregnant and Her one big comfort during this time is Angelica finally moved back to the US. She's always pregnant. Always pregnant. I'm telling you, Angelica was always pregnant too. I'm telling you, these bitches just stayed. They had one on the boob and one in the belly at all times.

And others running around after they're going, mom, broods of children. So Angelica moved back to Manhattan and built a big mansion not far from Eliza. So the sisters got to be together a lot. So when the scandal broke Eliza was home seven months or I'm sorry eight months pregnant and Alexander was in Philadelphia so he sent his brother-in-law John to go check on her. Quote, Eliza as well. It makes not the least impression on her. Unquote. The biggest problem wasn't public scrutiny. It was nasty but she could deal with it. The issue was she really wanted to lay low but considering her sister was the

richest and most popular social aid in town. It made it impossible. I would be having like dinner parties all the time. Yeah, so she didn't get to stay out of the limelight. Her sister's... Her sister is the limelight. Is the limelight. On August 4th, 1797, Eliza gave birth to her sixth child, William, just a week shy of her 40th birthday.

Don't worry, I've got plenty more babies. I'm not done yet! And the summer of 1797 saw Alexander in the papers again, but this time it's for a nicer reason. Alexander was being promoted in the army to general, only one rank below George Washington. So that's nice. Yeah, this was during that, if I'm not mistaken, this was during that period where they, in order to sort of keep the country together, they wanted George Washington to resume his role as commander in chief, even post presidency,

and he would only agree to do it with Hamilton, essentially just doing the entire job. So Hamilton would actually have to go in the field and deal with it while Washington just stayed the fuck home in Mount Vernon. Yes. But at least he was given a nice little pay raise and promotion. And he also made the army get all new uniforms if I remember correctly.

Fancy boy uniforms. Yup, in the summer, Eliza refused to leave the city. For the summer, she was just like, yeah. She was, after the chaos of last time she left, the Reynolds pamphlet was released. So this time she was, fuck you. Or all this other shit. I gotta stick around and I'll take my chances.

So they kind of compromised and Eliza Angelica rented houses next to each other outside the city in the popular Harlem Heights area. And Eliza liked it so much Alexander surprised her by buying 37 acres of property and building a large home. And the local basketball team. But yeah so they lived in Harlem Heights and it was named the Grange after Alexander's ancestral home in Scotland. Supposedly. Supposedly. But yeah, if I were to ever do my Alexander Hamilton episode, like one of my personal theories about him is he really was a little attached to that idea that he's,

he may have been born poor and under these rough circumstances, but he still descended from the Scottish nobility. He is, he is one of upper crusts and he deserves to be among them. And he used that as his justification for some of his bullshit. Which is funny because his wife seemed buried under earth. So 1798, another yellow fever epidemic swept through New York City. Only this time doctors believed that they had discovered the cause. They now believed that dirty city water was the source of the problem. Quote, Alexander put his weight behind a company that would install safe and new infrastructure.

When he learned that it was a bait and switch deal and the real plan was to finance a competing bank to his New York project, Alexander was furious. Worse, the company dug wells in the filthiest corners of town, which made citizens even sicker. Burr was unfortunately the reason for this. He was part of it. And this action plus flagrant land speculation had Alexander believing verbally publicly that Burr was unfit to hold public office and if he made it his life's mission at this point to thwart him Oh, yeah from kind of public position and this is where the relationship between these two men really start to unravel But I guess that was a little bit more complicated Yeah, firstly first the shit talk started in the newspapers Any anonymous rags and then the letters back and forth.

Well, and Burr was also amongst the people who knew about the Reynolds scandal and could have possibly have released that information. And then, meanwhile, Hamilton was talking shit about burr at parties. Mm-hmm. Oh yeah. It was a lot. So the couple's seventh child, Elizabeth, called Betsy after her mother was born on November 20th, 1799. And then Hamilton runs into the room, incoming! In February, while Liza was tending some flooding at the Grange, Peggy passed away in Albany. Alexander was there on business and he actually stayed at the house with Peggy

for several days while she died. And even though Eliza was devastated and she couldn't say goodbye, she was really comforted by the fact that Alexander was with her and was able to tell her that Eliza loved her. So at least somebody was there to represent her. Exactly he was there to represent her. He loved her and was close to her for all those years. So yeah. Yeah and again he was also close to Steven. The coolest Skylar sister has

now passed. Yeah and Peggy poor poor thing, she had like problems with childbirth. Like she had three sons named Steven, only one of them. She kept giving birth to Stevens. I'm gonna get one of these Stevens right. Mm-hmm. But I mean she would give birth to children one after another but then they would die. Not uncommon. Not uncommon. So she had a real problem with that. So Peggy died and they were sad but back to the musical we reach below us all the way. This song follows young Philip getting into an argument followed by a duel. This is pretty straightforward. Philip and his

friend Price were attending a play when the boys got into a verbal fight with James Eaker. They arranged two duels, the first between Price and Eaker, ending with no bloodshed and handshake. Philip, with the help of his uncle John and loaning him his dueling pistols and helping him write the letters, goes to the duel and is shot in the groin. Yep. And I mean, he's actually shot in the groin and while he's falling, he's the bullet exits into his hand. So Philip was taken to Angelica's house where an after an intense night of pain and delirium, he perished while being held between his parents. I'm so sorry for forgetting what you taught me. My son. his parents. He was just a kid, he was 19. He was 19 years old and they laid him on a bed and

Alexander and Eliza had him on each side and they held him and each other until he passed. It's Quiet Uptown is a sad-ass song and the reality is even more dark and tragic. Philip you would like it uptown, it's quiet uptown. He is working through the unimaginable. Alexander had to be physically escorted. He was so upset. He did not take this one well. No, and Eliza was even too upset to attend. Like she couldn't even go. The worst part of all, Angelica, the couple's oldest daughter whose mental health was always fragile, completely broke. Angelica went back to a child-like state where her brother was alive and would sing songs from their childhood. It's impossible to diagnose her but it was believed she had

schizophrenia and she never recovered after her brother's death. So this is this unseen character of the musical. It's just a tragic little story. Yeah. And so Eliza essentially lost two children. The funny and most ironic part of the musical is in this and there's the line. I know there's no replacing what we've lost yeah Philip died on November 24th 1802 the couple immediately got pregnant she gave birth for the eighth time. It's Philip too. And the eighth and final time and she named the boy Philip. Yeah but that's what their family did. You just kept-

It is what you did. You keep naming them until they stick. Yeah. Maybe you won't get shot. And soon after this, Eliza lost her mother in 1803. So- Kitty died. So we lost Peggy, Philip and Kitty.

All kind of within- She's having a rough stretch. She's in a rough stretch Politics please yo during this time we have the election of 1800 in our musical we see burr loose to Jefferson because of Alexander this enrages burr leading him to a do leading to a duel This is a simplification and it's inaccurate Burr's biggest grievance with Alexander wasn't the endorsement of Jefferson, but also ruining his chances to run for governor of New York in 1804.

Yep, no, Hamilton just locked Burr out as best he could. Yeah, he did. He did, he made it his fucking mission and Burr at this point knew it. But then they started sending these letters back and forth that are like volumes. I've actually read the entire exchange between these two men and it was like, the funny little song back and forth was cute,

but it just barely even scratches the surface. I have the honor to be your obedient servant. A. Ham. A. Burr. I like Hamilton writing these 60 page letters. In spring of 1804, Eliza was awoken in the early hours while loud banging at her door. The visitor was Burr in desperate need of $10,000. Alexander gathered up his friends and helped raise the money.

In hindsight, Eliza thought shooting Alexander was a really shitty repayment. That's one way to get out of heaven to pay him back. Motherfucker. Well, yeah, I guess he couldn't have... But Alexander wasn't even the main donor of that. They had much richer friends. Right. He was just the one who could convince them. I hate you, but you know, when one of our rich bros needs some money. Yeah. So then we stand Alexander, we Hawken, Don, guns drawn.

And our story continues with a sweet exchange between the couple, Alexander writing a letter and Eliza asking him to come back to bed. She leaves him while he sings, Best of Wives and best of women. Just like he did say in real life in a letter. Then Alexander meets Burr and on their final exchange, Alexander takes one last look back at his life before raising his arm to the sky being shot. He aims his pistol at the sky. Wait! being shot.

I want to read an insert for the last letter that Alexander wrote to Eliza. If it had been possible for me to avoid the interview, my love, for you and my precious children would alone have been a decisive motive. But it was not possible without sacrifices, which would have deared me unworthy of your esteem. I need not tell you of the pangs I feel, of the idea of quitting you and exposing you to the anguish I know that you would feel. Nor could I dwell on the topic, least it unman me. Fly to the bosom of your God and be comforted.

With my last idea, I shall cherish the sweet hope of meeting you in a better world. Adieu, best of wives and best of women. Embrace all my children for me." End quote. So, yeah, that's sad. Yeah, but yeah, I do remember I read that letter. Now, Alexander, he's been shot and he was taken to the closest home available to him, which was his friend, Governor Morris's house.

Since it took several hours for Eliza to get to him because she was all the way outside the city at the Grange. So he told them to break the news to her slowly. So at first she didn't even know what was fully going on, but in fact she was almost the last to know since there are already mobs of people looking for her to either fucking hang or beat him. I mean- He had to go on the lam.

He did. He had to go on the lam hard. And again, let's not forget at the time he was vice president of the United States and president of the Senate. And it was illegal. Dueling was straight up illegal. And maybe when you're vice president, don't go shooting somebody. Jesus Christ, Burr.

Yeah. And maybe when your vice president of shooting somebody Jesus Christ burr Yeah, when Alexander finally passed church bells rang all over the city to let the citizens know and burr says fuck Yeah, and he beat feet Eliza joined a crying Morris outside in the garden and she asked him to pray for her death and then take and raise her children for her. She was Distraught and she stayed really distressed for a while. It's like the only thing that kept her going was she fucking had to. Losing her son, then losing and then you said losing and the daughter losing it. And then her husband dying. That's a lot. It was a lot and Eliza was strong but she really did.

She was forever lonely and she always missed Alexander. So bummer. And now we are at the end of our, we are at the end. That was the beginning, but still not the end. Cause our musical eludes to some of her achievements and that she lived another 50 years. I live another 50 years, it's not enough. So we'll talk about that.

Because you know, the musical was Hamilton's story, not Eliza Hamilton's story. The good news is, is because we don't also have to talk about Alexander's story, it's gonna go a lot faster. Yeah, his story is officially over at this. Yeah. And again, his biography was 36 hours long where hers was 11. Well, he had this very documented life and she burned all a lot of the letters that would have given her a lot of extra, not even just her letters, her family burned letters around that time as well.

It's all very sus. Yeah. Because it's as if they were covering up a massive crime. Yeah, exactly. Instead of just, oh, this affair. It breaks my heart. Burn, burn, burn all the documentation. Yes. So Alexander left his family in dire financial straits. There was a large mortgage on the Grange and their debts were a lot larger than their assets and the couple had very little in savings. So he left her fucked. Who's gonna commit the crimes now? Yeah. Well and they were expecting him to live for another and work for another couple decades. He was the founding father that started really fucking young. Yeah he was only in his 40s when he died.

Younger than me right now. Every other founding father gets to grow old yeah so hopefully I have a little bit of juice left yeah I mean I just hope that I die before the fall of society we'll see I'm not ready to live in the Mad Max future no I'm not I'd rather just kill it I just I'd rather just keel it. I'd rather keel over now, but that's just me. So on August 6th, 1805, a meeting was held on Eliza's behalf at the Bank of New York. Oliver Wolcott, Edward and William Tillman,

plus 35 other men, donated funds to help support Eliza and the children. Eliza was a very busy single parent. And when she wasn't dealing with the older children's work in school, she was raising the younger. The children's ages from this point were two to 20. She remembered what it was like to not be pregnant.

And fortunately, daughter Angelica was doing well in the wake of her father's death. So it was at least one less thing off her plate. So Eliza just wake of her father's death. So it was at least one less thing off her plate. So Eliza just relied on her father for emotional and some financial support. And they were looking to start writing Alexander's memoir. But then on November 18th, 1804, Eliza lost her first love, her daddy.

The old coot finally kicked. She lost her sister, then she lost her kid, then she lost her hubby, and now she's lost her daddy and she's pretty much just feeling pretty alone right now. At this point in life, you know, her dad wasn't expected to live a whole lot longer. Yeah. It's not great. It's really bad in fact and to make matters worse She then got into a bitter inheritance battle with her siblings, of course Mm-hmm. Well, some of the biggest problems were her younger one of her younger brothers and one of her sister's husbands And they insisted that he had given her this large sum of money which Eliza never received So they were trying to take it out of her inheritance he had given her this large sum of money, which Eliza never received.

So they were trying to take it out of her inheritance. So now you already got this. You already got this. And she was like, what the fuck I did. So I just checked. Let me ask me. And yes, after consulting with me, I decided that that's what happened.

And I get the money now. Yes. So it was a long and bitter battle and it kind of divided the Sightler siblings into two factions those that were with Eliza and those that weren't. Probate court always a good time. And so at the end of it it left her with $15,000 and Eliza was depressed. The good news is 15k it was a lot more back in you know the early 19th century. Yeah it reached a peak when her beautiful house the Grange got put on the auction block for $30,000.

What Eliza didn't know was that her friends and relatives bought the property and then sold it back to her for the $15,000 and because of this Eliza and her children were able to keep their home. Yay. Widows not getting evicted from their homes is good. Yup. Throughout the course of their marriage, Eliza and Alexander took in children and orphans in need, and now Alexander was gone. Eliza did not stop taking in children.

Which is good. That helps make up for the fact that that home was bought with a bunch of crime money. Well, unfortunately, that money wasn't bought with a bunch of, money wasn't bought with a bunch of money at all. It just had a large market. So, I don't know how many crimes the people who donated it to were committed. They were all like New York bankers,

so probably a lot. All of the crimes, yes. A lot, I would assume, but I have a plausible deniability on that front, so. But at least she was helping kids. Yup, so she was a warm and loving mother and she just took in kids. At first, she took in two of her nephews,

whose mom had died, and so her brother needed some help and she took in a couple kids. And she took in some more. And she kind of started throwing herself into charity work. And the charity that she joined was the Society for the Relief of Widows with Small Children. And then she would go on, help raising funds to open up an orphanage. I established the first private orphanage in New York City. Because on March 15th, 1806, the Orphan Asylum Society opened as the first charitable orphanage in New York City. It started with 12 children, then 20, and soon it needed a larger building.

So Eliza started gathering funds. I think by the end they might've, they opened two buildings and were trying to raise funds to break ground on a third. 19th century orphanages, the most cheerful and happy places on earth. But it was still better than kids dying in the street. Oh yeah. No, orphanages were an improvement and just like the foster system was theoretically meant to be an improvement on the orphanage system. None of it's great.

But unfortunately, you know. Yeah. In early 1810, Eliza traveled to Philadelphia to petition Congress for Alexander's war pension. He had stupidly waived it because I do not need the money when he absolutely needed the fucking money. And now Eliza needs the money. I currently plan to commit many financial crimes and I'm gonna be great. Gonna be fine. I'm totally not gonna get shot in Jersey. Well, he should have because he kept fucking trying to duel people.

It wasn't the first one. He did that all the time. It's like when he couldn't talk his way out of a fight, he would be like throw down guns and people be like, what's wrong with you? I'm a soldier and I'm a good shot. Yeah, but then he'd be like, I'm waving my pistol at the sky. So he gets shot in the armpit. Well, that's the whole stupid honor duel tradition and the fact that a lot of them would just go and shoot their guns over each other's heads so that they could save face.

A lot of times they would agree to that in the first place. Like I'll shoot up in the air, you shoot up in the air. And that way, that way nobody's a coward. And we can just say, well, we agree to disagree. Nobody has to die. Cause getting shot with a musket ball sucks. Yeah. But that's how Eliza lost two of the people she loved most. So people who decided to not show it in the air. Yeah. Unfortunately, Congress is fucking slew. Congress being slow and ineffective.

That's no way that could be true here in the good old US of A. Just look how fast they banned TikTok. In 1812, all but her youngest son joined the war at different times. Fuck the British, part two. Yep. James joined the New York militia. Alexander Jr. was a captain in the army. John was an aide to camp to William Hemory Harris and 15 year old William registered at West Point, although he never graduated. So all of his sons ran off to war except for the baby.

That's what dads, I mean that was the Alexander Hamilton thing, join the military to advance your place in the world. Make a name for yourself. Yeah, and I don't even know if I wrote this down but pretty much all of his sons at least studied law if weren't actual lawyers. They all at least studied it. Join the military, become a lawyer. So they're just checking off the list. And a couple of them became politicians.

Why not? Yeah. So in the early months of 1814, Eliza came over every day to sit with Angelica as she lay dying, likely of tuberculosis. She passed away on March 13th, 1814. She is buried in Trinity Church near you. When I needed her most, she was right on time. Although Wikipedia says it's March 6th. I don't know. Record keeping. What are you gonna do? I don't know. As someone who has done direct research sometimes the records just don't agree. Like we don't even know how old Alexander Hamilton is. There was a discrepancy of a couple of years.

So the funeral was the last time she saw her brother-in-law, John. He moved back to London as soon as he, Angelica died. He settled his shit here. Death do us part. I'm going back home. He went back home. Yeah. Fair enough.

Yeah. But at least she got to be here for the end of her life, which is what she would have wanted. Yeah. So in 181616 Congress finally passed the relief of Elizabeth Hamilton and awarded her five years of full pay for Alexander's services in the army in the sum of ten thousand six hundred and nine dollars and sixty four cents. Good. It's nice to pay the vets and then the

families of vets. It's something that America likes toets and the families of vets. It's something that America likes to try to get out of. Yeah, Congress is especially squirrely about that from inception. Well, now my, oh, the trick question I always ask people who talk about different things like that when it comes to veterans issues. Like, you know, you want to know who the very first president is who fucked over United States veterans? George Washington.

It's just a long and story tradition here in our country. And again, I mean Congress was fucking over veterans during the Revolutionary War. We will say all kinds of- We just heard a rap about it. We will hear all kinds of bullshit to get teenage boys to sign up and then the moment we're done with you, our promises aren't so important anymore. By 1817, Eliza tried to find a second biographer for Alexander and the same old fucking rumors started spreading. Probably because of James fucking Monroe, because that's who she blamed. She was not pleased.

She hated him so hard. We'll get to it. That was how the Chernow book opened. It was like Monroe wanted to visit her and she told him to go fuck himself. Okay, we're gonna get there. Got it. Yep. Later on when Aaron Burr came back from Paris, a prankster sent Burr a note challenging to a dual claiming it was from James Hamilton. Only written confirmation from James denying the challenge prevented violence. What are you talking about? Yeah.

So she could have shot dead. Yeah. You already shot dad. Fuck you. So, but yeah, so, well, but that was the thing. James was like, no, I don't want to challenge you to what the fuck. So didn't happen, but people were were that was something that was happening. And often the Hamiltons were they were getting pumped.

They're all lawyers. They're not they're not interested in shooting old men in a duel. Yeah. So Eliza became first director of the Orphan Society in 1821, before she was the second director, now she is the first director. She would often bring home children from the orphanage when it was at full capacity. She just didn't turn away children, she just literally scoured the cities looking for little urchins to take in.

It's a hard knock life. And raising money to help raise these kids. So her biography told the story of Eliza being brought this little boy while she was standing outside of this home being burnt down. The firefighter brought her this little boy that killed both of his parents. So Eliza took him home and kind of cared for him until there was a spot for him in the orphanage. And then even then she was really hands on and later paid for his education out of her own budget, her own personal family budget.

So she really at this point was like, wow, we're raised, because the kids were learning things, trades, and in the orphanage. And so she decided that education should be the next accomplishment on her big list. Let's help kids by letting them teach them how to read and shit. Yep. So Eliza opened up the first free public school in Harlem Heights by donating a parcel of land and raising the funds. Nice. The woman was a

fundraising machine. Public education, who would have thought. Mm-hmm. So in early 1830, Eliza sold her home, The Grange, for $25,000 and purchased a five-story brick house on St. Mark's Place in New York City. Angelica, her daughter, was moved to a lunatic asylum not far from the house. So at that point, they had to lock Angelica up. Yeah, she had basically reverted back to being a small child and there was just, and yeah, and she would go cat, I think she went catatonic.

So she had just all kinds of problems that they couldn't do anything about back then. It's like, well, the leeches didn't do anything so and the exorcism didn't work so I guess we're just gonna lock her up yeah but they had her in the care of this really good nice doctor at the time Eliza trusted him again she wanted to visit she didn't go to the poor people's lunatic asylum yeah no and it's too early to get lobotomized. And so yeah, she wanted to move near Angelica so she could visit with her daughter and make sure she's doing okay. Yep. So while at faint at number four St. Mark's

their cousin James Finnamore Cooper moved in next door at number five. Cooper's book The Last of the Mohicans was popular and reminded Eliza of her childhood on the frontier. So she got to hang out with her cousin who wrote The Last of the Mohicans. That's super cool. Yeah. In 1833, James Monroe came to visit Eliza at number four. She was in the garden when he arrived and was not pleased by the uninvited guest. She met him in the front parlor and glared at him. He said,

It has been many years since we have met. The lapse of time has brought its softening influences. We are both nearing the grave when past grievances may be forgiven and forgotten. She interrupted him. may be forgiven and forgotten. She interrupted him. Mr. Monroe, if you have come to tell me that you repent, that you are very, very sorry for the slanders that you circulated against my dear husband, no lapse of time, no nearness to the grave makes any difference." End quote. With that she walked back to her garden without a second glance She might as well have just put up two fingers while walking out of the room

That's awesome. No, it was hard When I when I read the biography that was the kind of the opening scene of the book But yeah, but then they didn't follow up with her doing or being anything else It was that idea that she was so devoted to her husband that she would not only continue all of his works and try to continue to remember, but literally would hold a grudge on his behalf for 50 straight years. It wasn't holding a grudge on his behalf. He made her life fucking miserable. It wasn't about Alexander.

It was about her. But again, I don't expect fucking misogyny to understand that. And there was so much misogyny in that goddamn book. Oh yeah. Well, that's definitely, it just didn't even, it graded against my soul. It just literally didn't even consider the female perspective, not even once. Which I mean, it didn't even exist. And it's not a defense of that, but at the same time,

the source material that he's working from, all those documents and primary sources, none of those give a shit about the women either. You have to really work at it. And the biographer, you had to read, I mean, they had to work around the fact that she burned a shitload of her correspondence and we'll never know.

Like I said, the truth that she may have been involved in a shady financial crime code. For the record, I love that scenario. I love the scenario that she was like a fucking accomplice of a coverup than being the sad for learned wife. So I don't know which story is true, but I know which one I like. So in 1834, the first installment of Alexander Hamilton's biography came out written by John Hamilton.

They had tried to find a biographer and Eliza hated all of them and finally just made John Rackett. You do it, yeah. The nerdy kid. That was her nerdy bookish kid so that was the one she made do it. In 1834... Completely unbiased source. Yes, unbiased source, John Hamilton. John Hamilton with his mother standing over him the whole time. Biography or love letter? You decide. Because that's how I felt about Ron Chernow's biography.

It wasn't a biography, it was a fucking love letter. He loved him He loved him so much. It was not unbiased at all. Well, there's no such thing as unbiased Yeah, everybody has to pick their perspective and their their take on things On the idea of unbiased is a myth in journalism and in history Yeah, also in 1834 Aaron Burr's new wife caught him in flagrante and asked Alexander Hamilton jr. to represent her in court. Yeah so he married this wealthy widow and she she wasn't a well brought up lady she was like raised on a brothel and she married well and she was shrewd and she

made a bunch of money. And so he married her for the money, for the money and immediately started cheating on her with younger women. And so she was like, fuck you. Not only did she want to take him to court, she wanted Alexander Hamilton jr. to do it for her. I literally want you to have to face Alexander Hamilton jr. To do it for her. I literally want you to have to face Alexander Hamilton. Yes, and as A fuck you he filed the motion for divorce on the anniversary of his father's death

Burr suffered a stroke during the proceedings and his soon-to-be ex-wife gave not one single fuck Hell yeah lady. You literally are killing the guy. Yes. And she was like, whatever, proceed. And the divorce went on and she was awarded her divorce in 1836. Burr died on the day judgment was decided. Oh, that is, that's sort of beautiful. See, that makes me want to do the Irwin Burr episode even more knowing that that's how his story ends. Yes.

Because he sucks so much. He sucks. Because that's another thing, the musical sort of is a soft apologist for Aaron Burr. It's like, yeah, I did some questionable things, but it's just because of these reasons. I also was an orphan. No, no, no, no.

I just was a rich orphan. No, he was a fucking piece of shit. He sucked. The only good thing I can say about Aaron Burr was he was one of the earliest public feminists out of the founding fathers set. The only one who liked the idea that women should have the right to vote in the year 1800. But he was such an unlikable douchebag that his opinion probably made things worse yeah and he really did love his daughter who just died at sea probably murdered by pirates or sunk in a storm murdered by pirates is good yeah I like that one better when James took a trip to Europe

his mother gave him several letters to deliver one was to Prince Charles Maurice Talleyrand. Prince Talleyrand and James had an interesting conversation. The prince was traveling and met this lonely, sad American at an inn by the name of Benedict Arnold. And they discovered that they had a mutual friend in Alexander Hamilton. And Arnold was, you know, real sad, but then he like showed the prints and gave him this portrait that he had carried around all these years. And again, he was traveling. Everybody's favorite guy, Benedict Arnold, Benedict Arnold, Judas of America,

the Judas of America loved Alexander Hamilton and one of his, one of the big regrets of his life was not only betraying America, but also losing his friendships. So he was sad about losing Alexander as a friend. Piece of shit, it is true that piece of shit Aaron Burr, he regretted shooting Hamilton. That was one of his, he didn't regret a lot of the shitty things he did, but he regretted that. Hamilton it was one of his he didn't regret a lot of the shitty things he did but he regretted that he's like Well Because everybody didn't like me after I shot him. Yeah. No, nobody liked him anymore. Yeah, you suck burr Your your date your time will come I promise you

but so the prince gave the portrait of Alexander back to James. So cool little- James Alexander gets his dad's portrait back. From? Back from a prince. Back from a prince? From fucking- Back from a prince who had gotten it

from Benedict Arnold. From Benedict Arnold, well, there you go. So that's a fun little roundabout story of the American Revolution. It's great that after all after the treason that they could just sit down and it could all work out that way. Good for Benedict Arnold, I guess.

No, nothing worked out for Benedict Arnold. He was a sad fucking lonely poor broke shithole for the rest of his life. Just like Aaron Burr avoided being executed for the shit he pulled. Yeah so James also met with Jerome Bonaparte and was introduced to the King of France and his sister they were both friends of the Hamilton's and the churches he also visited all the royal houses of Italy. Yeah. He palaces opened with his parents' name. So for what that's worth. But I have to admit, if you're going to go on a cool European vacation, this is the one you want to go on.

Did you happen to know my dad was Alexander Hamilton? I have all these letters. Can I have a tour? I have these letters from my mother. I would like some dinner please. So in 1837, Angelica was taken away from the asylum because her doctor had passed. I guess they didn't, she didn't trust the other doctors. So she went to go live with her younger brother, Philip. Later on in 1837, at 80 years old, Eliza went out west to find and visit her son William

traveling made Eliza feel young again sometimes she would stop the train just to go climb a hill or hop a fence that's awesome that is sometimes you need to change I don't want to climb a hill and hop off ins now that hurts how do you do it at 80 hey sturdy fucking bitch she needs to go down as the sturdiest bitch in history. Those Dutch women I'm telling you, but no, it's a, I will say, yeah, getting a change of scenery, getting out of your rut and seeing new things a little, it'll break you out of it and make you feel good.

Yup. And I mean, all of Eliza's children made it to adulthood, only dying, the one dying from being shot. They all pretty much live to ripe old ages. They beat the average by a lot. Yeah. Just don't, just don't get shot. Hamilton's whatever they were doing must've been, they were doing it. Well, I guess eating all that farm food and desperately trying to get fresh air

when they're not in Manhattan. Descended from Germanic barbarians. course. Yeah these were sturdy people and everyone not only loved but deeply respected this shriveled old woman. So while in the Wisconsin territory still on her way to see William there was a financial crash that devastated the fortunes of several people in her family including Alexander Jr. More shady speculation coming back to bite them in the ass and Eliza ended up losing her house at number four She lost her home again because of her because of stupid men and their stupid decisions No one learned the lessons from the last time at least she doesn't have to go through humiliation this time

Yeah, just get broke this time time she was stoic about it. She was just like, you know, men lose money. They earn money. It's whatever. So she didn't even blink an eye. She wrote some letters. I'm old as shit. What are you going to do?

Yeah. And she decided to contend she didn't go back and to New York and try to do anything. She just kept going on her way. I'll just keep moving and I don't have to worry about it. Yep. So she went to go see William and it was the last time that she got to see him, her son before her death. Although William actually passed before she did.

So on July 4th, 1840, the new orphan asylum opened in Bloomingdale. Also later that year, the second volume of Alexander's Hamilton's biography was released. In 1841 Eliza got into a legal battle with her son James. Oh fun. Mm-hmm. Eliza had rewritten her will. She decided that the rest of the money that she had she was going to leave to her daughter Betsy and all of her estate because she trusted Betsy to help take care of Angelica. The dudes had their own means to make money and gamble it all away on

shady investments. The other children she leaves them quote her love unquote. That was it. So this upset James who thought he should be left in charge of his mother's money and illegally tried to change the will himself, leading to a nasty court battle. Which again, Eliza won and that was kind of a big deal because she was able to win a court battle leaving money to a to a female child leaving out the sons. Yeah, that's just not done. It wasn't done. The men are in charge around here.

It wasn't done until she made it done. Nice. So cool. Another feminist point for Eliza Hamilton. A little tick there. So in 1842, Eliza's youngest son, Philip, married an abolitionist sympathizer and along with Eliza's youngest son, Philip, married an abolitionist sympathizer. And along with Eliza's orphan daughter, Fanny, and her husband, they

joined the underground railroad. Oh, cool. So yeah, her little orphan daughter became. Well, that's good. That's like helping redeem Alexander Hamilton, who like, like a lot of the founding father set said a lot of the right things, but still participated with slavery in various ways. Whereas they're like, no, we're going to literally help slaves get the hell out. That's pretty cool. That's awesome. So Eliza and Betsy also decided to

join the cause by going to DC and speaking out against slavery. And they had big strong voices that were heard. Excellent. Yep. And even in her 90s, Eliza was quote, remarkable, according to President Polk. In 1848 at 91 years old, Eliza retired from the orphan asylum and she and Betsy moved to DC permanently. Okay, I'll finally retire at 91. Yes. She left someone else in charge because she wasn't done yet. She wanted to go still. She still had shit to do.

So she decided to move to DC. This is, I mean, this is still mid 19th century. So she, like she's a million years old by the standards of the day. Yes. She joined forces with her friend Dolly Madison to raise funds to build... I raise funds in DC for the Washington argument. She tells my story. We need a dick just pointing straight to the sky. Washington's dick.

It's a giant white dick and as we have previously established apparently it was impressive. Yes. And we wanted it memorialized for all time well apparently Eliza and Dolly were really impressed by that dick so I will not rest until the world can appreciate the dick with us it's called an obelisk when she was getting too frail to go out people would come to her she was still one of the busiest and most popular socialites in the capital. On New Year's Day, over 200 people came to see her, including President Millard Fillmore. While at her house, he asked her to come to dinner. The most uninteresting president we've ever had.

Yes. Fuck Millard Fillmore. And so she went to go dine with the first couple at the White House and Mrs. Fillmore gave Eliza this honorary seat at the head of the table. Because seating arrangements are important, Jamie. Yeah, some people care about this shit. They care about that shit. In 1854, at 96 years old, Eliza started to feel tired and wanted to go home to New York. For the first time ever. She was like, I feel a little weary.

Guess I need some sleep. Yep. So Betsy and Eliza moved back to New York. And on November 9th, Eliza Schuyler Hamilton passed away at 96 years old. Who lives, who dies, who tells your story? This time, I'm the one who tells the story. Yeah and you... The end. So it's cool yeah Eliza Hamilton did some interesting shit and I heard a few things I had never heard before. That's... Yeah I read the Trinnell book just to make sure that I wasn't going to be just regurgitating information and there was

something else to learn. He only mentioned her when absolutely necessary. Yeah. But again, Alexander Hamilton left so much to cover because he was obsessive. Because he wrote like a fucking madman. I mean, so much so they wrote songs about it. You hear me? He literally had his little, like a little desk

he would have on his horse so that he could keep writing while they were trotting along the road. He just kept going. What a dork. I think he was a dork that deep down really loved his wife and family. His last days of life, he actually spent at the Grange, like just hanging out with the kids, laying on the grass with them, looking up at the stars. He was starting to finally appreciate, he hit that point in his life after his son died,

he needed to like actually slow down and appreciate the people in his life. Yeah, and then especially knowing that it was a very good possibility that he was gonna die in a few days. He had all of his papers in order, his farewell letters written. I mean, he was very serious with the fact he could die. And he did. And he did. And then he fucked his wife and children over. Fortunately, they bailed her out from being poor. Luckily, she was a resourceful and interesting lady. So yeah. Damn near lived the Civil War. Yeah and probably was speaking out. Well yeah I mean the fact that she was a

hardcore abolitionist. Yeah which was interesting that because she came from a slave-owning family. Slave-owning family even though like her married too like he was an outspoken abolitionist. However they and but they still had house slaves. Yeah, oh no, that was the thing. It was like, like a lot of people, I mean, maybe not quite as egregious as St. Jefferson, but it was that there was a whole lot of these enlightenment people who were like,

well, slavery needs to go, but if it's around, we gotta, I mean, we still gotta like deal with it. We live in a society, but it's like to me, it's a little bit more complicated. It's like, I don't know if you can, it's so insane to like speak out against slavery while you literally go home and have your slave do your work for you. That's, I personally can't reconcile that, but you know. But I did like the fact that his children, yeah, they're like, well, we will take, we'll take the shit you said at face value and actually do the work, the real work, helping actual people, not just writing shit down and hoping that it'll get better.

And one of those people ended up being his wife. I mean, Hamilton was there for when the three fifths compromise was compromised. Was compromised America. Oh well, but at least, you know, you cut through that and told us about an actual cool chick. But yeah, Eliza Hamilton. Uh, I liked her a lot. She was, she was pretty rad and yeah, I don't think- Thanks to her husband dying, she was able to stop being pregnant long enough to start

doing some stuff of her own. Yeah. Good God. I'm telling you. Dutch women, kangaroos. And then just had older children to start working as her minions to accomplish her goals. It's great Yeah, well if you are still with us, thanks for listening everybody This is the conclusion of Eliza Hamilton, but as hinted

I don't know how long it will take but I think that one day I will get to Aaron Burr because yeah I discovered long ago how much he sucks and then the musical really does do this soft, you know sort of apology for Aaron Burr and makes him seem like, it's just, he was like sort of this tragic figure. And it was like, and it works for the story, but it's not history. Yeah. Now granted, Lin-Manuel Miranda, you know,

friend of the pod, probably listening. Of course. I didn't mean any of those things I said about you. He wanted, he, well, he wanted people to look into it themselves. He was excited that he was able to bring history and make it interesting. At no point did he even say this is accurate or anything like that. Like he didn't say that Hamilton walked into a bar and met Lafayette and Lawrence and Hercules Mulligan all at the same time. And yeah, I mean a lot.

That's why I didn't want to pick. Storytelling. It's a, it's a story trope. There was no reason to pick that part. Yeah. Those things apart. But I did want to kind of fix the fact that he either ignored or maligned all of the Schuyler women, including their cousin.

It is unfortunate. Not not only that people have to look like real people have to be cut for time but not like that but people's entire characters get completely changed in order to serve the narrative because there's only so many characters who get to matter for narrative and when you're that's the real real stickler when you're trying to adapt reality and history into a story you literally can't tell it as it happened. For one thing, nobody knows or even agrees what that is. We can't, like, people who act like we know shit about

history, we can't even agree what happens, like, that was on film on the news a week ago. Now we're all arguing about it. The idea that from letters and little bits of documentation that somehow we know the absolute truth about shit that happened hundreds of years ago. No, we have ideas and we can come to a consensus, but we will never really know. Yeah, but there are two scenarios to the Mariah Reynolds scandal. I personally like the one that it didn't happen. Oh, the one she was like, no, fuck, you don't get to say I did this.

Yeah. And then she proved it in a court of law. That's maybe my favorite detail. Yeah. And that's the one the detail that was left out. So she also was a maligned woman. Yes, exactly. Like, you don't get to say that I am some hussy. Yeah. And adulterous as my husband was just some shady shit. Not, an adulteress. Because my husband was up to some shady shit. Not cool. Not cool at all. So, yeah.

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